“Edges of the World” sent me to Santiago and its surroundings, in the Chilean central valley, facing the western side of the heart of South American Andes. Santiago shows up as a cosmopolitan urban scene into a mysterious landscape drawn up from in a territory that keeps the visceral memories of an impressive natural history. Once the floor of Pacific Ocean, the region has been remodeled by the beauty and seismic whims of Earth´s plasticity since millions of years. Chilean Andes are impressive in their synesthetic diversity, an experience to be lived through all the senses at the same time, a challenge for the photographer armed with a camera that only sees. In this stage of the “Edges of the World” project, I wasn´t exactly interested in images themselves, but in capturing such a complex of synesthetic impressions an image can evoke. Each photo, an impressionist piece, physically affecting our representations of light and color, air and smells, tastes, tactile memories. Santiago and nearby Andes are, indeed, a gift for one searching for the right scenery for impressionist photographing. This presentation brings a set of 16 images collected from an impressionist essay on this synesthetic city, including San Jose del Maipo and San Afonso.
